Ombudsman creates ranking of London’s failed councils – Inside Croydon

The Housing Ombudsman has launched a special investigation into Lewisham Council, which is guilty of “repeated failings”.

Calling London: almost half of the complaints received by Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman, are from the capital

The watchdog said it would carry out an investigation into the south London council after issuing it with 16 findings of “serious maladministration” in a year.

Lewisham follows Lambeth in attracting special treatment from the government’s watchdog, while Croydon was in the Ombudsman’s bad books as recently as January this year for four cases of “serious maladministration”.

There is another common denominator between the housing of Croydon and Lewisham.

Alison Butler, the former deputy leader of Croydon Council under Tony Newman, who advocated brick-by-brick and chaired housing in the borough at the time of the Regina Road scandal, resigned as a councilor in May 2022 and then joined a council. job in Lewisham. In its housing department…

According to the Housing Ombudsman, almost half of all complaints the office receives from across the country come from London boroughs. In 2023-24, 47% of all complaints received by the Housing Ombudsman came from London postcodes. This is considered to be “disproportionate”: Greater London has 1 in 6 of the nation’s homes.

This prompted the Ombudsman to issue a table of the numbers of complaints by the London Borough. These include figures from housing associations with homes in a local authority area.

The ombudsman said that “in line with the capital’s acute housing crisis, most indicators show poorer outcomes in London for residents”. The Ombudsman’s “support rate” for complaints about the condition of properties, including repairs and health and safety, is the highest in the country in London.

Ranking: how the Ombudsman ranks London boroughs by number of complaints. Croydon is in 18th place

“The housing crisis is intense in London, with insufficient resources and pressures beyond landlords’ control,” said Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman.

“However, there are still too many cases where residents have not been treated fairly or basic obligations have not been met.”

Lambethwith 428 (and a maladministration rate of 85.5%), it tops the Ombudsman’s table with 428 district findings for 2023-24.

Southwarkwith 320 (fumbles: 79.7%), he is fourth on Blakeway’s hit list.

Croydon with 165 (maladministration rate of 77.6%) it is 18th out of the 32 London and City boroughs. There are fewer complaints than Bromley (166) and Wandsworth (181). Merton had 98 complaints, Bexley 71 and Sutton 64.

Lewisham is seventh at 236 with a failing rate of 85%, rising to 90% for leaks, damp and mould.

The housing watchdog said it would “progress” to a further investigation to establish whether there had been any “wider failure” at the local authority landlord.

Blakeway said: “For several months we have been concerned about the repeated failures we have seen in landlord complaints, particularly in relation to the conditions of the property.

“We have given the owner the opportunity to address some of these issues through our orders and we will now proceed with further investigation. This will involve interacting with the owner and his residents regarding some of the issues we have seen.

“Decent, safe and secure social housing has never been more important and the learning from this report will help the landlord to improve residents’ experiences.”

The watchdog will also share its findings with the Social Housing Regulator, which the Council referred to last year for a potential breach of consumer standards.

A Lewisham Council spokesman said: “We welcome this investigation as we continue to work to improve our services for residents.” They added that their housing department “needs improvement.”

“We intend to be open and transparent with both regulators and the Ombudsman until we meet their requirements.”

Lewisham Council is believed to have had a backlog of 18,000 repair cases – since halved. Regarding damp and mould, the council explained that they are “carrying out a condition survey of all our homes”. Around half of Lewisham’s 7,500 properties have been surveyed so far.

Read more: Housing policy in Croydon is reminiscent of Dickensian England
Read more: Croydon Council near the top of the table – for complaints
Read more: Ombudsman orders review of temporary accommodation in Croydon
Read more: Brazen Butler at center of fresh storm over Fairfield Halls fiasco

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